Answer to the riddle ending "How many are going to St. Ives?" / WED 3-11-26 / Language in which "computer" is made up of the characters for "electric" and "brain" / Vaudeville show

Constructor: John Guzzetta

Relative difficulty: Easy (~8 minutes)

THEME: SERENDIPITY — Happy chance, as illustrated by the four invention stories at 17-, 24-, 36- and 44-Across

Theme answers:

• [In 1968, Spencer Silver at 3M Corporation was attempting to develop a superstrong adhesive ...] for POST IT NOTES
• [In 1928, Alexander Fleming at St. Mary's Hospital in London found mold in his cultures of staphylococcus bacteria ...] for PENICILLIN
• [In 1945, Percy Spencer at the Raytheon Manufacturing Company noticed the chocolate bar in his pocket had melted close to a magnetron ...] for MICROWAVE OVEN
• [In 1943, James Wright at General Electric was attempting to develop synthetic rubber for the war effort ...] for SILLY PUTTY

Word of the Day: CONTE (Old French tale) —

Conte is a literary genre of tales, often short, characterized by fantasy or wit. They were popular in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries until the genre became merged with the short story in the nineteenth century. Distinguishing contes from other literary genres is notoriously difficult due to the various meanings of the French term conte that span folktales, fairy tales, short stories, oral tales, and fables. [Wiki]

• • •

Hey friends! I'm glad to see you all for an off-schedule Malaika MWednesday. I solved this puzzle while listening to orchestral covers of pop songs from Bridgerton. I love these and could listen all day long. 

I'm really curious to see what y'all think of this puzzle. This type of theme, where there's simply a list of words with zero wordplay or raison d'etre, is not my favorite. In fact, I taught a class on creating crossword puzzles on Sunday and emphasized that this type of theme would not be successful if they're trying to get published. Oops!! Sorry guys. Go ahead and make your lists!! 

Part of the lackluster feel to me is that the revealer is just a random entry. It could have been anything, right?? It could have been "good luck" or "pure chance," or "happy accident." There's nothing especially fitting about the word SERENDIPITY (it doesn't even have anything to do with inventions) except that it had the right number of letters to fit symmetrically in the grid, so it doesn't feel like a fun reveal. Similarly, I haven't heard someone say MICROWAVE OVEN in like a decade (it's just "microwave" in my circle) which makes it feel like they just needed a correct number of letters with that phrase as well.

Another thing that I found odd is the phrasing of the clues. I associate that styling, with the italics and the ellipses at the end, with a wacky clue / entry combo, and was expecting that, and then very surprised to not see it materialize. At the very least, I would (grammatically) assume that an ellipsis indicates a partial sentence. So I'd think that the clue for (e.g.) "chocolate chip cookies" would be: In the 1930s, Ruth Wakefield played around with a recipe and invented... and then the entry would fill in the blank. (That's one of my favorite invention stories btw, tragically left out of this puzzle.) I really don't get why the ellipses or the italics are there at all! I would have phrased, e.g, the first clue as just: [In 1968, Spencer Silver's experiments with superstrong adhesive resulted in this common office supplies]

The fill was nice and smooth, and I liked seeing DETECTIVE, and CHINESE with that clue, but overall, the puzzle felt very meh. Really curious to see if you guys felt the same way. I am also open to the possibility that I have a bad attitude right now because I learned the hard way last week that I have an allergy to PENICILLIN. It was harrowing. 

Benoit Blanc!! Probably my favorite DETECTIVE right now

What else? I used to always point out when a theme only involved white men. I guess I can do that here. But it seems like the people who care about that notice it on their own, and the people who don't care roll their eyes when I rant about it. *shrug*

Bullets:

• [Alternative to fries, maybe] for SLAW — I had "tots" here for ages. I genuinely cannot imagine a situation where you offered a choice between fries and slaw. Fries or a salad?? Absolutely! Or if you are at a barbecue place getting a plate, I guess you can choose your sides and both are options. But you should absolutely be allotted more than one side, and slaw and fries simply do not occupy the same conceptual space while planning out a plate.
• [Answer to the riddle ending "How many are going to St. Ives?"] for ONE — Can one of y'all explain this to me please
• [Many first-time smartphone owners] for TEENS — Had a hilariously un-self-aware moment when I angrily thought "I can't believe teens have smartphones!" and then remembered that I got mine at age sixteen. Oops!! I probably shouldn't have had it though!! And now there are kiddos getting them at age thirteen. Definitely bad vibes.

xoxo Malaika

Three points of self-promotion, which I'll bury after the signature:

1) I constructed a themeless puzzle for the Boswords spring league! The league has already started (Rex has a link to it below) so I'm not sure if you can still register. But if you already have, keep an eye out for my puzzle! I can't say when it's coming, alas-- it's a surprise!

2) I will be at Crossword Con and at ACPT on April 10, and I hope you come say hi to me if you see me! As far as I know, I am the tallest woman to construct a NYT crossword, so I should be easy to spot. (If that's wrong, please tell me.)

3) Back in December, I published a cute little book of easy crosswords. I probably told y'all about this when it came out, but I'm newly excited because my friend sent me a picture today of someone solving on the train!! So exciting.

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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Focus of Gandhi protests / TUE 3-10-26 / 8-pointer in Scrabble / Mediterranean dish whose name can be translated as "pampered daddy" / Bizet's "Habanera," for one / All-time best-selling female rapper worldwide / Version of a car model / Sol's sister, in Roman myth / Eddie who voiced Donkey in "Shrek"

Constructor: Daniel Bodily

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (**for a Tuesday**)

[19A: "Star Wars" antagonist"]

THEME: J-LO (72A: Bronx-born star, to fans ... or a phonetic hint to 3-, 8-, 17-, 32- and 45-Down) — five Down answers end in "J," so in each case the "J" is ... "low" (visually, within its answer)

Theme answers:

• BRITISH RAJ (3D: Focus of Gandhi protests)
• FRESH OJ (45D: Drink that's just been squeezed, say)
• BABA GHANOUJ (17D: Mediterranean dish whose name can be translated as "pampered daddy")
• RADIO DJ (8D: One playing 45s, informally)
• NICKI MINAJ (32D: All-time best-selling female rapper worldwide)

Word of the Day: SKOPJE (70A: Capital of North Macedonia) —

Skopje is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultural centre of the country. As of the 2021 census, the city had a population of 526,502. Skopje covers 571.46 km² (220.64 mi²) and includes both urban and rural areas, bordered by several municipalities and close to the borders of Kosovo and Serbia. [...] In 1912, following the Balkan Wars, Skopje was annexed by the Kingdom of Serbia. It became part of Yugoslavia after World War I and, following World War II, became the capital of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, one of its constituent republics. In 1963, a major earthquake devastated the city, after which it was largely rebuilt with international assistance. Skopje became the capital of independent North Macedonia in 1991. (wikipedia) // North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the north. It constitutes approximately the northern third of the larger geographical region of Macedonia. Skopje, the capital and largest city, is home to a quarter of the country's population of over 1.83 million. The majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25%, followed by Turks, Roma, Serbs, Bosniaks, Aromanians and a few other minorities. (wikipedia)

• • •

Today I learned there is a North Macedonia, but no South Macedonia, or even just a plain old Macedonia. Just North Macedonia. The Balkans remain the part of the world to which I am the most map-blind. Like, I cannot keep all the countries straight. I grew up with Yugoslavia (Winter Olympics, 1984! That's how I learned Sarajevo existed). Then everything went to hell in that region in the early '90s, and by the end of the decade there were all these new countries, or new-old countries, and I have not made it a priority to go back and look at the region and figure out what and where they all are. And SKOPJE (pronounced "SCOPE-ya!") ... if you had shown me that name earlier this morning, I definitely could've told you it was a city, and I almost certainly would've placed it somewhere in the Balkans, but otherwise ... no clue. Needed many crosses (beyond the "J") to recall it today. This was one of several things that made this puzzle somewhat tougher than a regular Tuesday. Not tough tough, obviously. Just a little more challenging than usual.

Today's puzzle was another case of my liking the theme but not being exceptionally fond of the execution or the fill. There just aren't enough great longer answers ending in "J," so some of these come off as a little contrived. FRESH OJ also feels like you just slapped an adjective in front of OJ. Do people still drink frozen OJ? I think I heard recently that those cylinders of frozen orange juice concentrate (so familiar from my childhood) were being discontinued. Yep, confirmed. Anyway, if you do distinguish between kinds of orange juice, I believe the term is "fresh-squeezed." Also, RADIO DJ felt mildly redundant, as did BRITISH RAJ. Are there other RAJs besides the BRITISH RAJ? To be fair, none of today's theme answers sounded outright alien. They just seemed like common abbreviations with an adjectival modifier in front of them. BABA GHANOUJ and NICKI MINAJ both work great. I had real trouble with the spelling of BABA GHANOUJ. I knew the answer, but not the spelling. When I first saw the clue, I didn't understand the theme, and so that "J" ending, yikes. I think I must've imagined a "SH" ending? That's how it's pronounced (to my ears), and oh look, that's how it's most commonly spelled. Good, I'm not going crazy. Anyway, the "J" ... when I finally got it, I thought "oh, right. That spelling." But it didn't come to me straight away. As for NICKI MINAJ, she's a right-wing stooge now, so ... no (further) comment.

The fill on this one was on the weak side, largely because the grid is super-choppy and loaded with short stuff. IOTA ARIA ADHOC OFT AFAR ... that's quite a chain of repeaters. And there are more of them, everywhere. They really deaden the grid, though the longer Acrosses do give the grid some life back. That SW corner, though, is really rough. ON ZOOM ... my neck stiffened up just writing that. Wince City. Woof and oof. I DUNNO about that answer, man. Outside of the corner (the SKOPJE corner), I didn't have too much trouble anywhere except the NE, where writing in COURT instead of FLIRT (7D: Show romantic interest, in a way) really cost me some time. How much time? I dunno. Seconds? It's Tuesday, things go pretty fast no matter what the "relative difficulty" is. 

Bullets:

• 36A: 8-pointer in Scrabble ("J" TILE) — pretty sure I audibly booed this answer. Cheap way to get your "J" in.
• 31A: ___ Owens (birth name of Queen Latifah) (DANA) — a good artist to listen to if you've ever had it up to here (with ... whatever):

• 58A: Apt anagram of BRUSH (SHRUB) — because they are similar types of plant, I guess. Although if you look up "brush," the word you will see is "scrub (vegetation)," not SHRUB.
• 6D: Version of a car model (TRIM) — this threw me because I think of TRIM as having to do with the aesthetics of the car (the exterior and interior finish), and that's correct, but something about the wording of the clue made me think the answer was going to describe a whole-ass car, not just the aesthetic. The clue's not wrong, my brain just couldn't process it.
• 27D: Comedian Bargatze (NATE) — an extremely popular comedian I've never seen. I follow some comedians on social media, so I'm aware of the phenomenon that is NATE Bargatze. But I couldn't tell you anything about him except that he is, as I say, very popular, and I think he doesn't really, uh, work blue. Is that still a term people use? Yeah, here we go: he's sometimes called a "clean comedian." He was the highest-grossing stand-up comic of 2024.

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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